Prostate Surgery With Bilateral Lymph node dissection

I’ve heard from a lot of people who’ve had one or many lymph nodes removed. While there are a few different things that can happen due to removing lymph nodes the people I’ve heard from have really not had negative experiences from having it done. Normally, they only remove a few lymph nodes and in most cases only the one or two that had prostate cancer.

Canadian cancer Society reports
Removing lymph nodes for prostate cancer can cause side effects ranging from temporary swelling to long-term issues with fluid buildup and sexual function. The risk and severity depend on how many nodes are removed and if additional treatments like radiation are used.

Thak you Jeff. I appreciate your input.

Yes, my GPS score of 47 shows my cancer DNA is the aggressive type, but currently it is Gleason 3+4, and only one out of 18 cores. Also a recent PSMA PET scan showed no metastitis. That is why I am questioning why we need to remove the lymph nodes. I have emailed my concerns to my Urologist, and hopefully he will answer my questions possbly when I see him just before the surgery.

I had bilateral node dissection. Nine removed on one side and four on the other. I had no issues at all. Hope the same for you.

I had a RARP in May and they removed some of Lymph nodes on both sides. My surgeon explained that this was a necessary step as they send the Lymph nodes to be tested for Cancer in those cells to help determine Metastitis. Ask your surgeon if that's why they are being removed. I had swelling in those areas and some pain but nothing major.

Great! Very reasssuring.

Thank you. How long did the swelling and the pain last?

Let me know.

Thanks.

My husband had 20 lymph nodes removed with his RALP. I am glad he did that because they found that 2 of the 22 nodes had cancer in them. No side effects from he can tell so far. He had surgery on July 9th 2025.

By the way, was your bilateral lymph node dissection helpful in the cancer spread and help in further treatment decisions?

My surgeon too wants to test the lymph nodes for cancer since the GPS score for my cancer was 47 (aggressive type). My question is why do we need that when a PET SMA test in April showed no metastitis. His answer might be : PET Scans are not 100% accurate all the time, and/or that the the scan was done a few months ago.

I will let everyone know how my urologist responds.

My husband had his RARP in early June. His surgeon wanted to remove the six closest lymph nodes because one of them lit up on the PSMA he had done in March. We asked why the six instead of the just the one and he said there could be cancerous lymph nodes that didn’t show up on the PSMA and this concerned him because my husband is a Gleason 9. Sure enough TWO of the six removed were cancerous. It is my understanding that it is not unusual to remove the closest nodes if the docs have any concerns and also there are generally no lingering complications. My husband hasn’t noticed any problems so far. Consequently his treatment plan is more aggressive now and it all makes sense to us.